M.S.Dhoni: The Untold Story Review: A Smashing Half Century followed by a Composed Century

Sethumadhavan

The sports teacher at DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Ranchi is someone who is passionate about cricket. So much so that he organizes practice sessions for the school team on Sundays as well. On one such Sunday he is hassled because his wife insists on him accompanying her for buying fish from the local market. The shopkeeper and his wife enjoy the bargaining session while the teacher (Rajesh Sharma) is desperate to get back to the cricket ground. Back at the nets a young Mahendra Singh Dhoni on realizing that his coach will be late, requests his senior teammate to allow him to try his hand at batting in the nets since the coach wants him to only focus on his wicketkeeping.  Dhoni impresses his team members with his ability to hit big shots, but by the time the coach reaches the ground, everything looks normal and Dhoni is seen practicing wicketkeeping. This is one of the wonderful segments from Neeraj Pandey’s biopic on one of India’s most popular cricketers, M.S.Dhoni: The Untold Story.

A lot of us including myself were sceptical about the film when it was announced, the reason being that Dhoni is still actively playing cricket for the National team. After all biopics are usually made when the person in question is already retired, not active anymore or even dead in some cases but here we see the reverse happening. Also with M.S.Dhoni himself being involved with the film there was also the question of what kind of a trajectory would Neeraj Pandey be able to pursue with the film. But despite all this, what was praiseworthy is the way the producers of the film (Arun Pandey and Fox Star Studios) have gone about promoting the film. The wonderful advance booking seen for the opening weekend for a film that does not feature a superstar was to be seen to be believed. And as I write this the opening day figures that have come in also have gone on to reiterate that brand Dhoni has indeed worked at the box office.

We all know that M.S.Dhoni started his career in Ranchi and that he came from a humble origin. We also know that he went on to become India’s captain in just 3 years of his joining the team.  All of us have been witnessing the ups and downs in his career with active interest indeed, but not much till now was known about the background in which he grew up. How he took up cricket seriously, how the game went on to redefine his life and career, who were the people who stood with him as he pursued his ambition with relentless zeal and enthusiasm and the kind of roadblocks he faced on the way. All these and more have been wonderfully narrated by Neeraj Pandey in the film primarily in the first half. So we see how Dhoni gets involved with cricket, how his sister, mother and friends encourage him on his journey, even as his father is equally proud of his achievements as well as is worried of his future (a truly balanced portrayal by Anupam Kher). The origin of the famous “Helicopter Shot” of Dhoni is again something that would be a surprise to the audience.

These are all portions that all of us can relate to, appreciate and also perhaps fall in love with. Dhoni’s steady ascent as a cricketer, followed by his dedication to make it big, a stage where he feels that his career has got stagnant (the Kharagpur portions score a big high, right from his batting trials led by the Railway senior official to the chat on the railway platform with the same person) are all depicted by Neeraj Pandey with a lot of flourish and control.  However the post interval portions take a major dip especially with M.S.Dhoni’s entry into the Indian cricket team. I can understand Neeraj Pandey’s need to steer clear of the various controversies that Dhoni has faced in his career, especially as a captain, but even simple things like his journey to the captaincy, acknowledgement of some of the other iconic players around him etc. does not happen (only Yuvraj Singh played by Herry Tangri gets noticed). To add to this we have two romantic tracks coming up one after the other, both of which make the film look less of a sports biopic and more of a regular Bollywood entertainer.

For a cricketing idol who is still active in the game, the 2011 ODI World Cup win was a major highlight in the career of Dhoni and hence it is good to see Neeraj Pandey use that as a culmination point in the film. However even that portion only goes on to highlight brand Dhoni, completely making it look like his achievement out and out. The film has some really fantastic performances, especially from the not so popular actors and the casting choices are a big plus for the film. Sushant Singh Rajput wonderfully gets the body language and style of Dhoni right, and his is an earnest performance indeed. A lot of cricketing moments are made visible thanks to BCCI’s involvement as well and Ravi Shastri’s commentary inserts lends some touch of authenticity to the match proceedings. And yes one need not have to be a cricket lover to really watch the film; Neeraj Pandey ensures that even the others would probably take to the film.

Bottomline

With a fantastic first half the film actually had the potential to be an outright winner in all aspects but the second half syndrome weighs it down and reduces the impact considerably.  Thus what could have been a wonderful film, stops short of being anything more than a good biopic.

Rating:   3.5/5

Post your rating and review for MS Dhoni - The Untold Story